FOCUS ON LOW VISION

The Missing Piece

5 experts weigh in on the remaining pieces of the puzzle that can help make low vision treatment whole for the future

to find out what’s in the immediate future for optical’s low vision category, Eyecare Business interviewed five experts from different sectors—academia, product distribution, patient care, research, and not-for-profit.

The consensus? Low vision will remain a fast-growing, but vastly underserved, category.

Treatments vs. Practitioners

Richard Shuldiner, O.D., is founder of IALVS and director of Low Vision Optometry of Southern California. “New treatments will actually increase the need for low vision doctors,” he says. “New devices will come to market, and eyecare professionals will be inundated with desperate patients and family members. While it’s easy to proclaim that eyecare professions must get more involved, [most] will not. They have a difficult enough job keeping up with what’s new in the services they currently offer.”

Multi-Specialty Needs

Thomas Perski, M.A., is senior vice president of rehabilitation services at The Chicago Lighthouse. “The time it takes to address the psychological and social issues, the different activities of daily living, as well as an increasing field of technology—from portable video magnification to smart phones and tablets—will play huge roles in the future,” he says.

“There is also a role for eyecare professionals who team up with other professionals—occupational therapists, assistive technology specialists, counselors, or psychologists,” he says. “This type of comprehensive service does not exist in many areas of the country, nor is there a protocol for a transition from service to service in many areas. Moving ahead, there will be no more ‘one doctor’ and that’s it. M.D.s and O.D.s, occupational therapists, and mobility experts—it will, indeed, take a village.”

Maintaining Independence

Barry Greenblatt, director of sales for product distributor SeeMore Vision, adds, “As technology continues to improve, electronic low vision devices continue to be improved and become more affordable. It is imperative that eyecare professionals take a more active role in directing patients to resources that can help them continue to live independently.”

Insufficient Numbers

“We definitely need new service providers,” agrees Robert W. Massof, Ph.D., a professor of ophthalmology and neuroscience and director of Lions Vision Research and Rehabilitation Center at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

“Just in the Maryland, Delaware, and D.C. area, we estimate the annual incidence of low vision among adults is 15,000. Using the most optimistic estimates, existing services are provided in the area to approximately 5,000 new patients per year. Factoring in the death rate for the low vision population (the median age is 77), and assuming [most] patients stop seeking services after five years, the five-year backlog of unserved patients is about 38,000,” he explains. “This means we currently are serving less than 15% of the demand.”

Advances Ahead

Incoming chairman of the Low Vision Division of The Vision Council, Tim Gels is also the marketing manager at Eschenbach Optik of America. “In the next five years, there may be new pharmaceuticals for some of the underlying eye diseases that cause vision loss,” he says. “However, it’s likely that these new drugs will not completely cure the diseases and that patients will continue to need magnification solutions to help them with their daily activities.”

The bottom line? There are more patients and more advances to help them. The question is whether there will be more eyecare professionals serving this sector as well.

—Grace Hewlett